While crowdfunding campaigns can often turn out to be either a huge success that goes beyond all expectations, or a dismal failure that doesn’t even come close, there’s something special about a project that finds funding just in the nick of time. Today, that’s exactly what happened to Pixel Titans and their new game Strafe.

Intended as a love letter to the fast-paced FPS action of yesteryear, Strafe announced itself to an unsuspecting audience with a vivid trailer that soon spread across the Internet. Intermixing intense gameplay footage with a very funny parody of ’90s advertising — not to mention some ultraviolence — the clip was shared across various social platforms, laying a solid foundation for the rest of the campaign.

A strong pitch video is paramount to any Kickstarter campaign, and an amateurish attempt can do more harm than good in the long-term. Thankfully, creative director Thom Glunt put his experience as a music video and television commercial director to full use, producing a tongue-in-cheek ad that can stand alongside the best video game commercials ever.



However, from there on out things weren’t so straightforward. For a time, it seemed that Strafe might fall into the trap so many projects have done in the past; there’s a significant burst of backers in the first couple of weeks, but things slow down and the campaign ends with less money than it needs to move forward. $185,096 was requested, and a late surge was necessary to fulfill that amount.

Now, the game touted as ‘the future of 3D gaming’, the ‘most realistic shooter of 1996′ and ‘the best game of all time’ will become a reality. That reality is packed with no-nonsense gameplay inspired by the likes of Doom and Quake, as well as well-hidden secrets akin to those that made that era of gaming so special.

If you’re tired of the modern shooter formula of scripted action and forced realism, Strafe may well be the alternative that you’re looking for. This is an FPS with a focus on gameplay and a pleasing sense of humor — two traits that can’t be attached to most of the big-name shooter franchises of today. It may be set to arrive twenty years too late, but Strafe looks set to make good on its claim of being the best game of 1996.

The Kickstarter campaign for Strafe will run until February 19th, with the finished product expected to release in 2016.